"You had me at Negro."

[WhiskeyGirl]

Obama, America and Race — Seriously, Folks

07.04.08 | by Bernie Heidkamp

A couple of recent articles tackle the question of race in America from two ends of the cultural spectrum.

Mark de la Vina of the Mercury News discusses how comedians are some of the few people who are actually talking about Barack Obama’s race.

Paul Mooney, a very funny, veteran African American comedian, says Obama present a challenge to white America: “We’ve always had to say, does this white man like us? We’ve always had to think race. And this is the first time white people have had to think race.”

And Roland S. Martin says that comedy is the perfect venue for that thinking — but maybe not conversing — to occur:

The comedic moment liberates people to laugh out loud at what they really feel and what they really think, but they’re going to naturally suppress those thoughts and views once they’re outside that particular arena,” he said. “It’s OK to sit in that arena and just crack up laughing about rednecks, making jokes about Obama’s ears or his race or whatever, but the moment you want to have the conversation, the whole dynamic changes.

The best joke in the article? That would be when we hear a bit from W. Kamau Bell’s recent stand-up show:

I’m voting for Barack Obama. Not for the reason you expect. I did it because he’s black. Not because he’s intelligent, or well spoken or represents hope. Nope. You had me at Negro.

From another perspective, Dahleen Glanton of the Chicago Tribune does a great job breaking down “coded prejudice” — when people use a secret language of sorts to identify and frequently stereotype African Americans and other minorities.

It uses the present presidential campaign as a starting point the discuss the power and influence of this coding — reminding us about everything from “welfare queens” to Willie Horton and noting how Obama has already had to fight this subtle racism:

“We hear code words all the time in talk radio. It’s a constant drumbeat,” said [Steve] Rendall, who also co-hosts FAIR’s national radio show, “CounterSpin.” “Code word bigotry is a secret code, a secret handshake between the listening audience and the host.

“Either conscious or unconscious, there is sometimes a mispronunciation of [Obama's] name or dwelling on his middle name [Hussein], suggesting that he is some covert Muslim. It is not overt racism but it is xenophobic.”

But it’s an admirably broad piece, tracing the recent history of lawsuits based on coding, which is still being legally defined.

http://www.poppolitics.com/archives/2008/07/obama-america-and-race-seriously-folks

~~~~~~~~~~

What I see communicated are messages like ~

“We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid,” Obama said at the fundraiser.  “They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black? He’s got a feisty wife.”

Why does that warning seem to be repeated constantly?  Who is "they"?

This reminds me of the use of phrases  like "Satan will whisper in your ears and try to turn you away..." 

How would Barack Obama's message be perceived if he looked like John McCain?

How would McCain's message be perceived if it came out of Obama's mouth?

Would either message/vision/platform be more palatable to Americans?

What are the issues? 

Why not some open discussions by the candidates about the issues and not about race?  What are the changes your are so keen about? 

Will the changes bring good paying jobs with them?  Will they provide a sustainable healthcare solution for everyone?

Where are the facts?  How are the candidates planning to pay for their changes?    Show me the money.   

Whose children do the candidates plan to send to Afghanistan?  Pakistan?  Other war torn places on the globe?  Does redistributing the military save lives?  Money?

(I think that many have seen pictures of McCain & Obama.  Most know that McCain is older, and Obama is black.)

I have yet to hear the McCain group say anything like "they're going to tell you I'm old..." 

[nonesuche]

WhiskeyGirl, this appears to be a pattern that Obama and his advisors have launched, the best defense is an offense that blames all on race? I think they are doing a diservice to every black american who works hard and is a committed and responsible citizen. We cannot ever transcend the race issue until people like Obama quit using it as a bully pulpit. Furthermore, hasn't Obama succeeded in ways generations before him could not? Just look at the education he was able to achieve, of course he had to work hard for that but did he work any harder than any other american student that had fiscal adversity and a broken family? I am unsure that he did, for actually affirmative action was then in place to help Obama. Did he work just as hard as some, yes I am sure he did.

Obama held a press conference yesterday to speak to new accusations from the republicans that he's flip flopping, but even within the press conference Obama did not clarify his previous position on the timeline on bringing home our troops from Iraq has changed.

Rev Wright's comments continue to ring in my ears when he said Obama knows what he has to say to get elected. I might not like Wright or rather what he stands for, but I do know he's known Obama for 20 years intimately. I'm much more likely to believe Wright is speaking the truth about Obama than many others as a result.

 http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/03/obama.iraq/index.html

excerpt:

"He was asked if he would consider the removal of all combat troops within 16 months, the Illinois senator did not respond directly. He said only that he will continue to "gather information."

The other issue that continues to concern me is the naivete of some who really do believe we can withdraw from Iraq and there be no far-reaching ramifications on the US' safety. We no longer have allies in the Middle East, if you believe that we do then you are very naive. If you believe that Saudi Arabia is our ally post this gas pricing debacle, you are very naive.

I have often said lately if I wanted to take down the US, if that was my intent, that creating an economic freefall would be far less costly and likely more effective than launching war.

[Auntiem]

Quote
I’m voting for Barack Obama. Not for the reason you expect. I did it because he’s black. Not because he’s intelligent, or well spoken or represents hope. Nope. You had me at Negro.


Auntiem says:   Pardon my ignorance or lack of sophistication, but where is this coming from????? 

    I'd like to know whose quote this is, but more over I'd like to know to whom he is referring when he says "You had me at Negro".  Who used the antiquated and offensive word??

     

[Lala'sMom]

Why does it always have to be about skin color?  I never see a color when I look at either candidate?  I see their political stance.  I grew up in Alabama and am truly offended when someone throws out the color of a person's skin as a means to shut up the other side in debate.  I am tired of hearing the only people that attack Obama are racists.  That is simply not true.  The color of his skin has nothing to do with my thoughts.  I do not like his politics and what he stands for.  As I have told my DH for years, elections are about emotions. Only a small percentage vote on issues any longer.  If you don't believe me, then why say you are voting for Obama because he's black?  That is an emotional response if I ever heard one.  It only supports my theory that 90% of the voters in this country vote with their hearts and not their heads. If the candidate can make you feel good about whatever your circumstances are and make you think that those bad old  people are going to get it in the tushy, then people will vote for them.  I have seen it in elections for my entire life.  Your average voter does not care about issues unless it affects them.

 For example:  Why are gas prices such a touchy subject? Because it affects us at home every single day.  Truth is, nothing can fix this problem fast...nothing!  Neither candidate will tell you that and why?  Because it is not what we want to hear! We want a president that tells us it's all going to be okay and just sit back and let him handle it.  In fact, there is very little that he can do.  The congress holds that power. He can only try to guide them, but you can't herd cats.  Whether my president is black or white has no bearing on why I am voting for them...none at all.

[WhiskeyGirl]

I think the same people that may not vote for Obama because they see him as black, may not vote for McCain because his daughter has been described as black.  McCain was the target of a negative race and sex based campaign during the last presidential elections.

What applies to Obama may also apply to McCain.

My mother used to say "There will always be someone who doesn't like you."  Move on. 

[LouiseVargas]

McCain has a daughter who has been described as black? I haven't heard that yet. 

[caesu]

that was in 2000. he fell victim to a smear  campaign from supporters of the current president in  the primary of soth carolina

"What Bush did to McCain in the 2000 S. C. primary"

FACT SHEET:

Bush Waged Nasty Smear Campaign Against McCain in 2000
Bush Supporters Called McCain “The f** Candidate.” In South Carolina, Bush supporters circulated church fliers that labeled McCain “the f** candidate.” Columnist Frank Rich noted that the fliers were distributed “even as Bush subtly reinforced that message by indicating he wouldn’t hire openly gay people for his administration.”

McCain Slurs Included Illegitimate Children, Homosexuality And A Drug-Addict Wife.
Among the rumors circulated against McCain in 2000 in South Carolina was that his adopted Bangladeshi daughter was actually black, that McCain was both gay and cheated on his wife, and that his wife Cindy was a drug addict.”

Bush Campaign Used Code Words to Question McCain’s Temper.
“A smear campaign of the ugliest sort is now coursing through the contest for the presidency in 2000. Using the code word "temper," a group of Senate Republicans, and at least some outriders of the George W. Bush campaign, are spreading the word that John McCain is unstable. The subtext, also suggested in this whispering campaign, is that he returned from 5 1/2 years as a POW in North Vietnam with a loose screw. And it is bruited about that he shouldn't be entrusted with nuclear weapons.”

Bush Supporters Questioned McCain’s Sanity.
“Some of George W. Bush's supporters have questioned Republican presidential candidate John McCain's fitness for the White House, suggesting that his five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam drove him insane at the time.”

Bush Supporters Spread Racist Rumors About McCain’s Daughter.
Bush supporters in South Carolina made race-baiting phone calls saying that McCain had a “black child.” The McCains’ daughter, Bridget, was adopted from Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Bangladesh. In August 2000, columnist Maureen Dowd wrote that the McCains “are still seething about Bush supporters in South Carolina spreading word of their dark-skinned adopted daughter.”

Rove Suggests Former POW McCain Committed Treason and Fathered Child With Black Prostitute.
In 2000, McCain operatives in SC accused Rove of spreading rumors against McCain, such as “suggestions that McCain had committed treason while a prisoner of war, and had fathered a child by a black prostitute,” according to the New Yorker.

After Rove Denied Role In McCain Whisper Campaign, Reporters Concluded He Was Behind It.
A December 1999 Dallas Morning News linked Rove to a series of campaign dirty tricks, including his College Republican efforts, allegedly starting a whisper campaign about Ann Richard being too gay-friendly, spreading stories about Jim Hightower’s involvement in a kickback scheme and leaking the educational history of Lena Guerrero. The article also outlined current dirty tricks and whisper campaigns against McCain in South Carolina, including that “McCain may be unstable as a result of being tortured while a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.” (DMN, 12/2/99) After the article was published, Rove blasted Slater in the Manchester, NH airport, “nose to nose” according to one witness, with Rove claiming Slater had “harmed his reputation,” Slater later noted. But according to one witness, “What was interesting then is that everyone on the campaign charter concluded that Rove was responsible for rumors about McCain.”

Bush Campaign Accused of Using Push Polls Against McCain.
College of Charleston student Suzette Latsko said she received a telephone call from a woman who identified herself as an employee of Voter/Consumer Research, and that the caller misrepresented McCain’s positions and asked if Latsko knew McCain had been reprimanded for interfering with federal regulators in the savings and loan scandal. Voter/Consumer Research is listed as a polling contractor on Bush’s Federal Election Commission filings; the Bush campaign has paid Voter/Consumer Research $93,000 through December 31, 1999. Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer denied the call was a push poll, but said it was important that the Republican Party remember McCain’s role in the S&L crisis.

Bush Campaign Acknowledged Making Phone Calls.
Tucker Eskew, Bush’s South Carolina spokesman, acknowledged the Bush campaign made such calls, but claimed they were not “push polls.” Eskew added, “Show me a baseless comment in those questions.”

Bush Used Fringe Veterans Group to Attack McCain as “Manchurian Candidate.”
Ted Sampley, the guy who did Bush's dirty work in going after Sen. John McCain.  Sampley dared compare McCain, who spent five years as a Vietnam POW, with ‘the Manchurian Candidate.’”

Sampley Called McCain a “Coward” and a Traitor.
“Sampley… accused McCain of being a weak-minded coward who had escaped death by collaborating with the enemy. Sampley claimed that McCain had first been compromised by the Vietnamese, then recruited by the Soviets.”

http://truthteller998.vox.com/library/post/bush-endorses-mccain-gee-john-mccain-remember-the-year-2000.html

would be good if McCain speaks out against the smears being used against Obama now.
those smears are not helpful anyway. most people are fed with being misinformed and lied to for the majority of the last 8 years.

[Auntiem]

McCain has a daughter who has been described as black? I haven't heard that yet. 

 Yes, Louise, McCain and his wife have an ADOPTED BLACK DAUGHTER FROM MOTHER THERESA'S ORPHANAGE. 

     Cindy McCain, on a visit to the Orphanage, saw two children there in need of Medical Care. Cindy brought the the children back, she and John adopted one and a friends of their's adopted the other.  Cindy is devoted to helping children.

      I guess, as the saying goes, ...." No good deed goes unpunished"!!!!

       This was several years ago, as I believe Bridgid is now about 16, and in High School.


      caesu, it is truly evil to post lies about a man who suffered 5  years of cruelty at the hands of the Viet Cong.....the North Viet Nam.

          How Low can you Go??!!!!!  If you were around in the 60's you probably burned the Flag!!!

[caesu]

McCain has a daughter who has been described as black? I haven't heard that yet. 

      caesu, it is truly evil to post lies about a man who suffered 5  years of cruelty at the hands of the Viet Cong.....the North Viet Nam.

          How Low can you Go??!!!!!  If you were around in the 60's you probably burned the Flag!!!

are you having trouble reading??

i wrote about how the Bush campaign attacked McCain in the 2000 republican primaries with all kinds of smears!

[crazybabyborg]

caesu..............I don't mind that you went to a stated democrat "blog" for this article, but we should all check the facts. This article has not even met the standards of newsworthy for publication in media, and even the news is more biased for Obama in this campaign than in any other in history. The blog can call it a FACT SHEET or any other name it chooses, but it doesn't make it so. So, let's take a look at it.

that was in 2000. he fell victim to a smear  campaign from supporters of the current president in  the primary of soth carolina

"What Bush did to McCain in the 2000 S. C. primary"

FACT SHEET:

Bush Waged Nasty Smear Campaign Against McCain in 2000
Bush Supporters Called McCain “The f** Candidate.” In South Carolina, Bush supporters circulated church fliers that labeled McCain “the f** candidate.” Columnist Frank Rich noted that the fliers were distributed “even as Bush subtly reinforced that message by indicating he wouldn’t hire openly gay people for his administration.”
FACT: Frank Rich is a far left writer for the far left New York Times. McCain has never supported gay marriage, but he has also never supported a Federal Ban on it either. Bush DID NOT reinforce, subtly or otherwise, any material calling McCain a f**. There was, in fact, church groups that did circulate material highlighting Bush's stronger stance on gay marriage by virtue of his favor of a Federal Ban on gay marriage, and in fact, that position helped distinguish him from McCain and solidify a larger block of conservative votes. Many voters, then and now, view same sex marriage as a moral issue.

McCain Slurs Included Illegitimate Children, Homosexuality And A Drug-Addict Wife.
Among the rumors circulated against McCain in 2000 in South Carolina was that his adopted Bangladeshi daughter was actually black, that McCain was both gay and cheated on his wife, and that his wife Cindy was a drug addict.”
Among the rumors? If you want to talk about rumors, I've heard that Obama's internet fundraising has allowed for huge amounts of money to come into his campaign from terrorists. It's a RUMOR and neither this one or the one cited in this "Fact Sheet" is worth a hill of beans.

Bush Campaign Used Code Words to Question McCain’s Temper.
“A smear campaign of the ugliest sort is now coursing through the contest for the presidency in 2000. Using the code word "temper," a group of Senate Republicans, and at least some outriders of the George W. Bush campaign, are spreading the word that John McCain is unstable. The subtext, also suggested in this whispering campaign, is that he returned from 5 1/2 years as a POW in North Vietnam with a loose screw. And it is bruited about that he shouldn't be entrusted with nuclear weapons.”
Where are the sources for this? Whose ear was being whispered into? Was it McCain's "loose screws" that compelled him to refuse to be released from that POW camp until those of lesser rank could walk out with him? If so, I name those screws honor, nobility, loyalty, and bravery.

Bush Supporters Questioned McCain’s Sanity.
“Some of George W. Bush's supporters have questioned Republican presidential candidate John McCain's fitness for the White House, suggesting that his five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam drove him insane at the time.”
I just love the quotes in this "Fact Sheet"! They quote no one, name no one, and cite no one in favor of those vague "SOME OF BUSH SUPPORTERS". hmmm

Bush Supporters Spread Racist Rumors About McCain’s Daughter.
Bush supporters in South Carolina made race-baiting phone calls saying that McCain had a “black child.” The McCains’ daughter, Bridget, was adopted from Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Bangladesh. In August 2000, columnist Maureen Dowd wrote that the McCains “are still seething about Bush supporters in South Carolina spreading word of their dark-skinned adopted daughter.”
I have searched Maureen Dowd's website for any mention of this and come up with nothing. She is an editorial writer of ( where else ) the New York Times.

Rove Suggests Former POW McCain Committed Treason and Fathered Child With Black Prostitute.
In 2000, McCain operatives in SC accused Rove of spreading rumors against McCain, such as “suggestions that McCain had committed treason while a prisoner of war, and had fathered a child by a black prostitute,” according to the New Yorker.
Let's go to McCain's campaign manager in 2000, Richard Davis who is a political consultant and fellow at Harvard, who wrote in the Boston globe about the extremely negative campaign in South Carolina:

Anonymous opponents used "push polling" to suggest that McCain's Bangladeshi born daughter was his own, illegitimate black child. In push polling, a voter gets a call, ostensibly from a polling company, asking which candidate the voter supports. In this case, if the "pollster" determined that the person was a McCain supporter, he made statements designed to create doubt about the senator.

Thus, the "pollsters" asked McCain supporters if they would be more or less likely to vote for McCain if they knew he had fathered an illegitimate child who was black. In the conservative, race-conscious South, that's not a minor charge. We had no idea who made the phone calls, who paid for them, or how many calls were made. Effective and anonymous: the perfect smear campaign.

Some aspects of this smear were hardly so subtle. Bob Jones University professor Richard Hand sent an e-mail to "fellow South Carolinians" stating that McCain had "chosen to sire children without marriage." It didn't take long for mainstream media to carry the charge. CNN interviewed Hand and put him on the spot: "Professor, you say that this man had children out of wedlock. He did not have children out of wedlock." Hand replied, "Wait a minute, that's a universal negative. Can you prove that there aren't any?"

Campaigns have various ways of dealing with smears. They can refute the lies, or they can ignore them and run the risk of the smear spreading. But "if you're responding, you're losing." Rebutting tawdry attacks focuses public attention on them, and prevents the campaign from talking issues.

We chose to address the attacks by trying to get the media to focus on the dishonesty of the allegations and to find out who was making them. We also pledged to raise the level of debate by refusing to run any further negative ads -- a promise we kept, though it probably cost us the race. We never did find out who perpetrated these smears, but they worked: We lost South Carolina by a wide margin.

The only way to stop the expected mud-slinging in 2004 is for both President Bush and Senator Kerry to publicly order their supporters not to go there. But if they do, their behavior would be the exception, not the rule.

Richard H. Davis is president of the Reform Institute and a partner in Davis Manafort, a political consulting firm. He was a fellow at Harvard's Institute of Politics in 2002. He was campaign manager for John McCain in 2000 and has worked in every presidential campaign since 1980.

© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/03/21/the_anatomy_of_a_smear_campaign/

After Rove Denied Role In McCain Whisper Campaign, Reporters Concluded He Was Behind It.
A December 1999 Dallas Morning News linked Rove to a series of campaign dirty tricks, including his College Republican efforts, allegedly starting a whisper campaign about Ann Richard being too gay-friendly, spreading stories about Jim Hightower’s involvement in a kickback scheme and leaking the educational history of Lena Guerrero. The article also outlined current dirty tricks and whisper campaigns against McCain in South Carolina, including that “McCain may be unstable as a result of being tortured while a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.” (DMN, 12/2/99) After the article was published, Rove blasted Slater in the Manchester, NH airport, “nose to nose” according to one witness, with Rove claiming Slater had “harmed his reputation,” Slater later noted. But according to one witness, “What was interesting then is that everyone on the campaign charter concluded that Rove was responsible for rumors about McCain.”

Absolutely Untrue..........see above article written by McCain's Campaign Manager.

Bush Campaign Accused of Using Push Polls Against McCain.
College of Charleston student Suzette Latsko said she received a telephone call from a woman who identified herself as an employee of Voter/Consumer Research, and that the caller misrepresented McCain’s positions and asked if Latsko knew McCain had been reprimanded for interfering with federal regulators in the savings and loan scandal. Voter/Consumer Research is listed as a polling contractor on Bush’s Federal Election Commission filings; the Bush campaign has paid Voter/Consumer Research $93,000 through December 31, 1999. Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer denied the call was a push poll, but said it was important that the Republican Party remember McCain’s role in the S&L crisis.
The Bush Campaign released the survey it's campaign used when calling voters, to the media amid complaints from the McCain campaign that the questions put McCain in a bad light. Ari Fleischer had indeed denied the survey was a push poll, and supported the decision to release the survey.
Bush Campaign Acknowledged Making Phone Calls.
Tucker Eskew, Bush’s South Carolina spokesman, acknowledged the Bush campaign made such calls, but claimed they were not “push polls.” Eskew added, “Show me a baseless comment in those questions.”
Again, See above article for a breath of fresh air truth.

Bush Used Fringe Veterans Group to Attack McCain as “Manchurian Candidate.”
Ted Sampley, the guy who did Bush's dirty work in going after Sen. John McCain.  Sampley dared compare McCain, who spent five years as a Vietnam POW, with ‘the Manchurian Candidate.’”
Oh, you've got to be kidding me!! You're holding up Ted Sampley as part of the Bush campaign??? Ted Sampley is a maniacal MIA Rumormonger for the sole purpose of trying to make himself seem important when the world has obviously validated every day of his life as worthless! I can't believe this one, Oh yeah, Bush wants his campaign to be associated with Sampley alright, OMG, please say you know better than this! Here, go find out about Sampley:http://www.miafacts.org/prankster.htm

Sampley Called McCain a “Coward” and a Traitor.
“Sampley… accused McCain of being a weak-minded coward who had escaped death by collaborating with the enemy. Sampley claimed that McCain had first been compromised by the Vietnamese, then recruited by the Soviets.”
Sampley again fouls these pages. We're definately going to need to clean the cage!

http://truthteller998.vox.com/library/post/bush-endorses-mccain-gee-john-mccain-remember-the-year-2000.html

would be good if McCain speaks out against the smears being used against Obama now.
those smears are not helpful anyway. most people are fed with being misinformed and lied to for the majority of the last 8 years.

Yes, I quite agree. I am very fed up with being misinformed and lied to, particularly within the pages of this forum.

[crazybabyborg]

While we're on the extreme left wing information outlets, I thought I'd share Chris Matthews (they don't get any more left winged than him) on national TV MSNBC (THE most left winged network) asking Texas Senator Kirk Watson, an Obama supporter, about Obama's legislative accomplishments:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGeu_4Ekx-o

[caesu]

caesu..............I don't mind that you went to a stated democrat "blog" for this article, but we should all check the facts. This article has not even met the standards of newsworthy for publication in media, and even the news is more biased for Obama in this campaign than in any other in history. The blog can call it a FACT SHEET or any other name it chooses, but it doesn't make it so. So, let's take a look at it.

that was in 2000. he fell victim to a smear  campaign from supporters of the current president in  the primary of soth carolina

"What Bush did to McCain in the 2000 S. C. primary"

FACT SHEET:

Bush Waged Nasty Smear Campaign Against McCain in 2000
Bush Supporters Called McCain “The f** Candidate.” In South Carolina, Bush supporters circulated church fliers that labeled McCain “the f** candidate.” Columnist Frank Rich noted that the fliers were distributed “even as Bush subtly reinforced that message by indicating he wouldn’t hire openly gay people for his administration.”
FACT: Frank Rich is a far left writer for the far left New York Times. McCain has never supported gay marriage, but he has also never supported a Federal Ban on it either. Bush DID NOT reinforce, subtly or otherwise, any material calling McCain a f**. There was, in fact, church groups that did circulate material highlighting Bush's stronger stance on gay marriage by virtue of his favor of a Federal Ban on gay marriage, and in fact, that position helped distinguish him from McCain and solidify a larger block of conservative votes. Many voters, then and now, view same sex marriage as a moral issue.

McCain Slurs Included Illegitimate Children, Homosexuality And A Drug-Addict Wife.
Among the rumors circulated against McCain in 2000 in South Carolina was that his adopted Bangladeshi daughter was actually black, that McCain was both gay and cheated on his wife, and that his wife Cindy was a drug addict.”
Among the rumors? If you want to talk about rumors, I've heard that Obama's internet fundraising has allowed for huge amounts of money to come into his campaign from terrorists. It's a RUMOR and neither this one or the one cited in this "Fact Sheet" is worth a hill of beans.

Bush Campaign Used Code Words to Question McCain’s Temper.
“A smear campaign of the ugliest sort is now coursing through the contest for the presidency in 2000. Using the code word "temper," a group of Senate Republicans, and at least some outriders of the George W. Bush campaign, are spreading the word that John McCain is unstable. The subtext, also suggested in this whispering campaign, is that he returned from 5 1/2 years as a POW in North Vietnam with a loose screw. And it is bruited about that he shouldn't be entrusted with nuclear weapons.”
Where are the sources for this? Whose ear was being whispered into? Was it McCain's "loose screws" that compelled him to refuse to be released from that POW camp until those of lesser rank could walk out with him? If so, I name those screws honor, nobility, loyalty, and bravery.

Bush Supporters Questioned McCain’s Sanity.
“Some of George W. Bush's supporters have questioned Republican presidential candidate John McCain's fitness for the White House, suggesting that his five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam drove him insane at the time.”
I just love the quotes in this "Fact Sheet"! They quote no one, name no one, and cite no one in favor of those vague "SOME OF BUSH SUPPORTERS". hmmm

Bush Supporters Spread Racist Rumors About McCain’s Daughter.
Bush supporters in South Carolina made race-baiting phone calls saying that McCain had a “black child.” The McCains’ daughter, Bridget, was adopted from Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Bangladesh. In August 2000, columnist Maureen Dowd wrote that the McCains “are still seething about Bush supporters in South Carolina spreading word of their dark-skinned adopted daughter.”
I have searched Maureen Dowd's website for any mention of this and come up with nothing. She is an editorial writer of ( where else ) the New York Times.

Rove Suggests Former POW McCain Committed Treason and Fathered Child With Black Prostitute.
In 2000, McCain operatives in SC accused Rove of spreading rumors against McCain, such as “suggestions that McCain had committed treason while a prisoner of war, and had fathered a child by a black prostitute,” according to the New Yorker.
Let's go to McCain's campaign manager in 2000, Richard Davis who is a political consultant and fellow at Harvard, who wrote in the Boston globe about the extremely negative campaign in South Carolina:

Anonymous opponents used "push polling" to suggest that McCain's Bangladeshi born daughter was his own, illegitimate black child. In push polling, a voter gets a call, ostensibly from a polling company, asking which candidate the voter supports. In this case, if the "pollster" determined that the person was a McCain supporter, he made statements designed to create doubt about the senator.

Thus, the "pollsters" asked McCain supporters if they would be more or less likely to vote for McCain if they knew he had fathered an illegitimate child who was black. In the conservative, race-conscious South, that's not a minor charge. We had no idea who made the phone calls, who paid for them, or how many calls were made. Effective and anonymous: the perfect smear campaign.

Some aspects of this smear were hardly so subtle. Bob Jones University professor Richard Hand sent an e-mail to "fellow South Carolinians" stating that McCain had "chosen to sire children without marriage." It didn't take long for mainstream media to carry the charge. CNN interviewed Hand and put him on the spot: "Professor, you say that this man had children out of wedlock. He did not have children out of wedlock." Hand replied, "Wait a minute, that's a universal negative. Can you prove that there aren't any?"

Campaigns have various ways of dealing with smears. They can refute the lies, or they can ignore them and run the risk of the smear spreading. But "if you're responding, you're losing." Rebutting tawdry attacks focuses public attention on them, and prevents the campaign from talking issues.

We chose to address the attacks by trying to get the media to focus on the dishonesty of the allegations and to find out who was making them. We also pledged to raise the level of debate by refusing to run any further negative ads -- a promise we kept, though it probably cost us the race. We never did find out who perpetrated these smears, but they worked: We lost South Carolina by a wide margin.

The only way to stop the expected mud-slinging in 2004 is for both President Bush and Senator Kerry to publicly order their supporters not to go there. But if they do, their behavior would be the exception, not the rule.

Richard H. Davis is president of the Reform Institute and a partner in Davis Manafort, a political consulting firm. He was a fellow at Harvard's Institute of Politics in 2002. He was campaign manager for John McCain in 2000 and has worked in every presidential campaign since 1980.

© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/03/21/the_anatomy_of_a_smear_campaign/

After Rove Denied Role In McCain Whisper Campaign, Reporters Concluded He Was Behind It.
A December 1999 Dallas Morning News linked Rove to a series of campaign dirty tricks, including his College Republican efforts, allegedly starting a whisper campaign about Ann Richard being too gay-friendly, spreading stories about Jim Hightower’s involvement in a kickback scheme and leaking the educational history of Lena Guerrero. The article also outlined current dirty tricks and whisper campaigns against McCain in South Carolina, including that “McCain may be unstable as a result of being tortured while a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.” (DMN, 12/2/99) After the article was published, Rove blasted Slater in the Manchester, NH airport, “nose to nose” according to one witness, with Rove claiming Slater had “harmed his reputation,” Slater later noted. But according to one witness, “What was interesting then is that everyone on the campaign charter concluded that Rove was responsible for rumors about McCain.”

Absolutely Untrue..........see above article written by McCain's Campaign Manager.

Bush Campaign Accused of Using Push Polls Against McCain.
College of Charleston student Suzette Latsko said she received a telephone call from a woman who identified herself as an employee of Voter/Consumer Research, and that the caller misrepresented McCain’s positions and asked if Latsko knew McCain had been reprimanded for interfering with federal regulators in the savings and loan scandal. Voter/Consumer Research is listed as a polling contractor on Bush’s Federal Election Commission filings; the Bush campaign has paid Voter/Consumer Research $93,000 through December 31, 1999. Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer denied the call was a push poll, but said it was important that the Republican Party remember McCain’s role in the S&L crisis.
The Bush Campaign released the survey it's campaign used when calling voters, to the media amid complaints from the McCain campaign that the questions put McCain in a bad light. Ari Fleischer had indeed denied the survey was a push poll, and supported the decision to release the survey.
Bush Campaign Acknowledged Making Phone Calls.
Tucker Eskew, Bush’s South Carolina spokesman, acknowledged the Bush campaign made such calls, but claimed they were not “push polls.” Eskew added, “Show me a baseless comment in those questions.”
Again, See above article for a breath of fresh air truth.

Bush Used Fringe Veterans Group to Attack McCain as “Manchurian Candidate.”
Ted Sampley, the guy who did Bush's dirty work in going after Sen. John McCain.  Sampley dared compare McCain, who spent five years as a Vietnam POW, with ‘the Manchurian Candidate.’”
Oh, you've got to be kidding me!! You're holding up Ted Sampley as part of the Bush campaign??? Ted Sampley is a maniacal MIA Rumormonger for the sole purpose of trying to make himself seem important when the world has obviously validated every day of his life as worthless! I can't believe this one, Oh yeah, Bush wants his campaign to be associated with Sampley alright, OMG, please say you know better than this! Here, go find out about Sampley:http://www.miafacts.org/prankster.htm

Sampley Called McCain a “Coward” and a Traitor.
“Sampley… accused McCain of being a weak-minded coward who had escaped death by collaborating with the enemy. Sampley claimed that McCain had first been compromised by the Vietnamese, then recruited by the Soviets.”
Sampley again fouls these pages. We're definately going to need to clean the cage!

http://truthteller998.vox.com/library/post/bush-endorses-mccain-gee-john-mccain-remember-the-year-2000.html

would be good if McCain speaks out against the smears being used against Obama now.
those smears are not helpful anyway. most people are fed with being misinformed and lied to for the majority of the last 8 years.

Yes, I quite agree. I am very fed up with being misinformed and lied to, particularly within the pages of this forum.

that's impressive.

but i only wanted to show what smear campaign was used by Bush's supporters or McCain's opposers.
not that i think there is any truth in them. to the contrary of course!!
Auntiem seems to have misunderstood me.
and you also seem to in some of the blue responses? - but not all of them.

and i am also not necessarily saying this was directed by Bush himself.

however John Weaver, political consultant to McCain in his 2000 and 2008 campaign thinks differently than Richard Davis:

In 2004, Weaver appeared in the documentary film (based on the 2003 book of the same name) Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential, which alleges that Karl Rove, former campaign manager and Deputy White House Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush, was behind a South Carolina push poll during the 2000 Republican primary that used racist innuendo to undermine support for McCain by asking voters: "Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?"[2] In the film, Weaver assigns blame to Rove, stating "I believe I know where that decision was made; it was at the top of the [Bush] campaign".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Weaver_(political_consultant)

and Sampley is indeed just another Swift Boat kind of smearer.
but as it helped the Bush campaign in 2000 and 2004, he didn't denounce him either.

if only the same research was done on the smears / rumors i used to read here about Obama...
they used to allow to be posted without any checking. often without a source.
but apparently there are double standards in place.

that's why i said that both Obama and McCain should publicly denounce any smearing going on from both sides.
especially as McCain knows how effective these smears against him were in S.C. 2000.

here is your Maureen Dowd column by the way:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02EFD61E3CF93AA3575BC0A9669C8B63

[caesu]

While we're on the extreme left wing information outlets, I thought I'd share Chris Matthews (they don't get any more left winged than him) on national TV MSNBC (THE most left winged network) asking Texas Senator Kirk Watson, an Obama supporter, about Obama's legislative accomplishments:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGeu_4Ekx-o

February 20, 2008
Watson: I lost my mind

State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, has come up with a list of Barack Obama accomplishments and the knowledge that Chris Matthews is "as ferocious as they say."

Here's his statement about his appearance on Matthews' show, entitled "MSNBC and Me":

    So . . . That really happened.

    On Tuesday night, after an important and historic victory in the Wisconsin Presidential Primary by Senator Barack Obama, I appeared on the MSNBC post-election program. "Hardball" host Chris Matthews (who is, it turns out, as ferocious as they say), began grilling me on Senator Obama's legislative record.

    And my mind went blank. I expected to be asked about the primary that night, or the big one coming up in Texas on March 4, or just about anything else in the news. When the subject changed so emphatically, I reached for information that millions of my fellow Obama supporters could recite by heart, and I couldn't summon it.

    My most unfortunate gaffe is not, in any way, a comment on Senator Obama, his substantial record, or the great opportunity we all share to elect him President of the United States.

    Had I not lost my mind, here are the accomplishments I would have mentioned:

    Senator Obama's fight for universal children's health care in Illinois.
    His success bringing Republicans and Democrats together (a huge selling point for me in general) on bills such as the one in Illinois requiring police interrogations and confessions to be videotaped.
    His leadership on ethics reform in Washington (the bill that lobbyists and special interests are complaining about right now has his name on it).
    His bill to make the federal budget far more transparent and accessible to Americans via the Internet - we could use that openness in Texas.
    And his vital work with Republicans to lock down nuclear weapons around the world.
    Of course, it would have helped to remember all of this last night. I encourage anyone who wants to know more (especially Mr. Matthews) to log onto texas.barackobama.com.

    In the meantime, let's not lose focus on what's important in this election. It's not my stunning televised defeat in "Stump the Chump." Thankfully, it has nothing at all to do with me.

    What's important is the direction our country is headed. What's important are the priorities, methods, and, yes, accomplishments of those seeking the highest office in the country.

    Senator Obama has a vision for this nation, and we would be fortunate to fulfill it. He has the commitment to work with everyone from across the political and demographic spectrum to achieve it. And he has the strength to defend us, our security, and our values against all who will challenge them.

    But most of all, he has the record to prove that all of this is possible. It's something no one should forget.

    . . . Even though I did.

    . . . On national television.

http://blogs.chron.com/texaspolitics/archives/2008/02/watson_i_lost_m.html

[crazybabyborg]

ceasu wrote:
here is your Maureen Dowd column by the way:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02EFD61E3CF93AA3575BC0A9669C8B63

Yep, there it is. Here's the quote from the tongue in cheek article:

Liberties; A Match Made in Heaven
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: August 9, 2000
As though this presidential campaign did not already have enough father-son drama, now comes the mother of all contests between Father and Son.

The main battleground state is the state of grace. Democrats and Republicans are seeking a geographical advantage, but it is celestial. Both sides seem weirdly obsessed with snagging a divine endorsement.

W. brazenly tried to lay claim to the Son, accepting Christ as his personal savior and favorite political philosopher, and proclaiming June 10 Jesus Day in Texas.

The vice president chose to contest this holy ground by revealing that he was a born-again Christian who often asked himself ''W.W.J.D. -- What Would Jesus Do?''

But with the two sons fighting over the Son, Mr. Gore decided to find a running mate with direct access to the Father. The usually cautious Mr. Gore made an inspiring and brave choice of a senator named Lieberman, the first Jew on a major party's national ticket and a believing and practicing Jew who regularly invokes God.

In his Nashville debut yesterday, Mr. Lieberman mentioned God 13 times in 90 seconds.

The last pol to break a religious barrier, Jack Kennedy, always played it coolly secular. He would never have prayed in a campaign speech, or conceded he might be tied up with religious rites on weekends.

Forty years ago, J.F.K. promised to keep religion out of politics. Now candidates promise to drench politics with religion.

Trumpeting values and godliness is the way these boys of summer promise to exorcise the frisky ghosts of Bill and Monica from the sacred Oval Office.

Bill Clinton dominates the race he is not in. In '92 he chose Mr. Gore as his running mate because he needed the Tennessee senator's Dudley Do-Right image. Having a Vietnam vet and a family man beside him allowed Mr. Clinton to seem less slippery.

Only eight years later, Mr. Clean found himself in need of a Mr. Clean.

Al Gore has come away from the White House sex and money scandals with a patina of grime. The vice president who was chosen for rectitude, not geography or charisma, felt he needed to choose a running mate for rectitude, not geography or charisma.

After defending the beleaguered Mr. Clinton as ''one of our greatest presidents,'' Mr. Gore had to make up for that ill-considered moment by choosing a new partner whose piety offset his old partner's hedonism.

Mr. Lieberman, the first Democratic senator to denounce Mr. Clinton as ''immoral'' during the Monica megilla, saw the offer from Mr. Gore as comparable to being ''called to the ministry.''

The vice president is in a bitter competition with the first lady for campaign money and attention, and yet he has ended up picking someone who might help her in New York. (Hillary wasted no time in trying to co-opt Mr. Lieberman to campaign with her, noting demurely, ''but I can't be greedy.'')

The new Democratic ticket must take care not to overdo the sanctimony as they run away from the lame-duck rogue. Al must sweep into Hollywood with a guy Hollywood can't stand. Mr. Lieberman has teamed up with the conservative Bill Bennett to castigate Hollywood for its moral ''toxicity,'' saying the town ''doesn't understand piety.''

He has excoriated the NBC megahit ''Friends'' as too sexy for prime time and suggested that the F.C.C. review the content of programs when renewing licenses.

In Nashville, the senator hailed Tipper for the puritanical crusade that the Gores have spent years begging Hollywood to forget.

Although the Bush team praised the selection, we must keep an eye on that nasty Republican fringe. When the going gets tough, the hardball henchmen around the Bushes have a way of exploiting differences and craftily implying that anyone who is not like us is not ''on the American side,'' as Bush Pere put it at the flag factory during the Willie Horton campaign.

The McCains are still seething about Bush supporters in South Carolina spreading word of their dark-skinned adopted daughter from Bangladesh.
********************************************************************

There's those vague Bush aupporters again! On this one, I think they did McCain a favor. It speaks volumes to me about the character of a family that extends themselves to a child who is a victim of misfortune. It also speaks to me that the McCains have not exploited their altruism for political gain by making it a talking point.

[Tylergal]

McCain has a daughter who has been described as black? I haven't heard that yet. 

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=5330040&page=1

[Tylergal]

Ooops, wrong one.  This is the one.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=5216530&page=1

[crazybabyborg]

Ooops, wrong one.  This is the one.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=5216530&page=1

Tyler, Thanks for the link. I hope you won't mind my copying the story to post here. This one is worthy of inspiration whether you be Democrat or Republican, Conservative or Liberal.


Cindy McCain's Soft Spot: Operation Smile
Presumptive First Lady Feels Connection to Charity Helping World's Kids in Need of Facial Surgery
By KATE SNOW
June 21, 2008 —


While Americans are attending church this Sunday, Cindy McCain  the woman who could one day be first lady  will be walking around a garbage dump, far removed from her comfortable life in Phoenix.


This is the other side of Cindy McCain  not the model-perfect spouse of the candidate who wears pearls and designer clothes. On this side of the world, she wears old hiking boots, puts her hair up in a ponytail and wants to "get to work."


It's not a newly invented Cindy McCain either. She's been volunteering on various missions for years. You just might not have heard much about it.


A new ABC News-Washington Post poll released this week found more than one-third of Americans had no opinion of Cindy McCain. Asked if she is "mysterious," McCain smiled.


"I don't think I am very mysterious," she said. "I have led my life differently. ... I am not the candidate, I have never been front and center. I do the things I enjoy, and I do the things that are important to me. And do them in a way that I like to do them."


On Thursday, that meant a visit to a hospital in the coastal Vietnamese city of Nha Trang with the organization Operation Smile.


When McCain arrived, parents were already lining up to have their young children screened, hoping they might qualify for the organization's promise of free facial surgery to fix cleft palates, cleft lips or severe facial deformities. In fact, they have given out more than 115,000 surgeries in 26 countries.


In an interview with ABC News, McCain said a simple $286 surgery can change a child's life forever.


"A child that would probably be kept in a closet or kept in the back part of the house and never really be seen by family friends or neighbors ... can not only come out but can have a productive, fulfilling life," she said.


McCain stopped to talk to Mai Thi Kim Huong, a mother holding a 9-month-old boy with a severe cleft lip. Mai had no idea who the blonde foreigner was, just that she might help her family.


"If I had to pay, I wouldn't have enough money," she said. She and her husband are farmers.


"I have a very soft spot in my heart for Operation Smile," McCain said. "I think many times I gain more from this than the people that we help do because it revitalizes me. I think you can lose track of things inside a campaign bubble, so I think it's very important to get out and go back to what I do best and love most and that's this."


For McCain, it is also personal. Sixteen years ago, on a visit to an orphanage in Bangladesh, she saw a tiny baby with severe facial deformities and a cleft palate.


"I had been working there somewhat for a few weeks and I always kept going back to her at the end, at the beginning of the day," McCain said. "Whatever I was doing, I would always wind up at her little bassinet. I would hold her and play with her. So when it came time to leave, there was just something there. I mean, she chose me."


On the plane ride home, McCain decided she and her husband would adopt baby Bridget. She told Sen. John McCain of her plan when he met her at the airport.


"He was remarkable," she said. "I stepped off the airplane and handed him a new baby, and he never missed a beat."


Sixteen years later, their daughter Bridget is a thriving teenager.


"It took a long time and it's painful," McCain said. "She's just a remarkable kid, a trooper and she's tough."


A few years later, McCain would become involved in helping other children.


A Vietnamese waiter approached the McCains in a Phoenix restaurant and asked if they could help his baby niece, Le Thi Phuoc, get surgery.


Mrs. McCain flew the girl to Phoenix, paid for the surgeries and kept her at her home for months.


On Thursday, McCain reunited with the Le family in Vietnam. Phuoc is now 11 years old and loves to skip rope.


"There are people with beautiful hearts who want to help others," said the girl's father, Le Van Tan.


"After seeing her help, I am not surprised that miracles can happen anymore," he added. "Having a defected child is very scary, but now she [Cindy McCain] has returned me with a beautiful daughter. I am very thankful."


McCain has traveled to Vietnam many times since her first trip in 1988.


She said she was bitter the first time she went, but learned a lesson from her husband, who was held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for five years.


"The first time I came, I think I really came with a chip on my shoulder, because of what had happened to him," McCain said. "And he taught me about forgiveness. ... I learned through his eyes what took place, and learned through the Vietnamese eyes about friendship and forgiving."


If she were first lady, she said, she would want to encourage every American to give back, to volunteer.


"I take people with me when I go because I want people to get involved," she said. "It aggravates me when people sit and whine about things that are happening and then don't do anything about it. You don't have to go around the world. You can go right out to your corner and help, or you can go right out to the center of your city and help, but get involved."




For more information on Operation Smile, click HERE.


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